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Lisa Callhoun
Better known as the Forgemaster, Lisa Callhoun is the leader of the industrial city known as the Foundry. Having severed all ties to her past and effectively buried her own identity, she has dedicated to building a secure and safe city in the Wastelands, protected from the outside world. History The fall of the Enclave and the fall of the Enclave Lisa Callhoun was born in what was known as Control Station Enclave in 2239. Her early life would be radically reshaped by the events of the Enclave’s war on the NCR in 2242 which lead to the destruction of much of the group. Callhoun’s family were amongst those evacuated by the Enclave that made the long migration east to Raven Rock, resulting in her formative years being spent on the road. As they travelled, she saw much of the devastated ruins of the former United States, which would serve to shape her life. Relocated to Raven Rock, Lisa grew up on the Enclave’s propaganda and vision of restoring pre-war America. She earnestly believed in their mission, and felt that hey would be able to bring order to the wastelands she had seen during her forced migration. Lisa was held up among her classmates and peers as being an excellent example of what an Enclave citizen should aspire to, a model for the better America that they would build. As soon as she was old enough, Callhoun joined the Enclave’s Army, showing the same dedication to her training as she had to her studies. She was earmarked for special service, and transferred into the prestigious Power Armour division. Callhoun saw this not only as being a reward, but also a validation of her beliefs; she supported the Enclave and their vision for the future, and now they were giving her the tools and skills that she needed to make it happen. After graduation, Callhoun was assigned to field duties in the Capitol Wasteland, helping to protect the Enclave’s assets against attacks. Seeing what was once the seat of American power laid so low created mixed feelings for her. On one hand, it was dispiriting to see how much had been destroyed or despoiled over the centuries. But the other served to reinforce her belief in the Enclave, feeling that they would be able to restore the capitol to its former glory. She saw action almost immediately after her first deployment. Initially she faced common threats of the wasteland, such as Raiders, Super Mutants and mutated wildlife, none of which proved to be a danger to her or her team. The combination of training, Power Armour and technologically superior weapons that they fielded proved to be more then a match for such simple foes. However, as the war for the Capitol Wasteland escalated, Callhoun found herself facing the Brotherhood of Steel, who boasted power armour suits of their own. While their vintage T-45d and T-51b suits were inferior to the Encalve’s power armour, the Brotherhood possessed superior numbers and their troops were often more experienced then the Enclave’s, putting them at a disadvantage. Callhoun was promoted several times during the conflict, both due to her own service and to replace officers lost in the conflict. Soon she was in command of her own squad, but by that point the Enclave was on the back foot. Following the loss of Project Purity, Her squad were among those that fell back to Andrews Air Force Base to make a desperate final stand against the Brotherhood. Instead, it was a crushing defeat, with the Enclave functionally destroyed. Despite being badly wounded, Lisa managed to survive the battle. Conversely, her Power Armour had been badly damaged, and she was forced to abandon it. Instead, after receiving only cursory medical treatment, she rounded up the surviving members of her squad and a few others, choosing to flee the Capitol rather then risk whatever the Brotherhood had in store for them. Before they did such, she and her allies destroyed anything they had left that might associate them with the Enclave in order to prevent their identification if they were caught. Callhoun had no qualms about doing such either; she figured that the Enclave, even if it had not been completely destroyed, was a lost cause no less. Going west The group decided that they needed to get as far away from the Brotherhood and its reach as possible; simply relocating to a nearby region like the Commonwealth was not an option. Instead, they chose to head westwards, with the vague goal of settling somewhere in the Midwest where both the Brotherhood and the Enclave were unknown, allowing them to stay anonymous. Posing as wandering mercenaries, they took a long and deliberately rambling path westwards, doing their best not to give any indication of a specific destination, not that they had one in mind anyway. By happenstance, in July 2280, the group stumbled across a stash of pre-war weapons in an Ohio bunker, possibly left behind by army deserters. The greatest treasure was a battered but functional T-51b power armour suit, which Callhoun claimed as her own. While the suit would raise their profile and be more maintenance intensive then their otherwise simple firearms, it also would greatly expand their capabilities and options. In late 2280, the group crossed into Michigan. After being on the road for three years, members of the group felt that they were ready to settle down. They reasoned that by this point they were well beyond the Brothehood’s reach, and that they were also unlikely to encounter any remnants of the Enclave either. That ahead lay vast radioactive dust bowls and rumours of another Brotherhood force served as a good reason to stop and change direction. Forging the Forgemaster Over the years, the group had developed a plan for what they intended to do once they settled down. The crux of it amounted to finding a settlement they could take over and shape into their own image, where they would remain in power and be supported by the populace. To this end, they undertook recon operations to explore the state and identify potential targets. Even the first missions ruled out the Detroit Wasteland; the ruined city was divided among well-entrenched factitious groups, and they felt that it would be impossible to make any headway against them. One location did offer some promise, however. The city of Flint was found to have survived the war more or less intact, even if it was now struggling against polluted water and constant food shortages. Its people were also suffering under the city’s leadership, headed up by an insane ghoul known as Mad Mabel, as well as external threats form raiders and others. The group also reported that Flint possessed factories and other infrastructure that they could potentially restore and use for their own ends, which suggested that the city would be a prime target. To this end, Callhoun create a new identity for herself, taking the name ‘Forgemaster’ in order to build on the industrial theme they were planning for their takeover and reconstruction of the city. To support the identity, she would ensure that it would be publicly linked with her Power Armour; she would only ever appear in public wearing the suit, and would use electronic distortion to give herself a masculine sounding voice. A vital part of this plan was to ensure continuity of their government. In the advent that she was killed or otherwise unable to perform her duties, another member of her inner circle could take over the Forgemaster role, making it seem as if it was still the same person. In effect, the Forgemaster would become immortal. After all their planning, the conquest of Flint proved to be easier then expected. The Forgemaster and their retinue simply walked into the city and called out Mad Mabel. When the ghoul answered, Callhoun simply and nearly effortlessly killed her using her Power Armour’s superior strength. After seeing their hated ruler literally crushed before them, the people of Flint gladly embraced the Forgemaster as their saviour. This blind adulation gave Callhoun the leverage she needed to reconstruct the city along the lines that they had planned, transforming it into the Foundry. While the city was being rebuilt, Callhoun sought out the allies she needed to ensure its survival. To this end, her greatest boon came form the Detroit Wasteland, in the form of the Army of Revolution. The human supremacist force was in the process of gearing up for an all-out war to conquer Detroit, and needed weapons in order to do such. While she personally didn’t care for the Army of Revolution or their ideals, seeing them as being like the Enclave but without the technology or semblance of history, she also knew that they would provide her with the food and income that she needed in order to allow the Foundry to thrive. Using her Forgemaster identity to impress their partners, she entered into an alliance that would exchange weapons for food and other supplies. However, she was careful not to become too entangled with the Revolutionaries, making sure to avoid any commitment to directly supporting their own plans. The Flint River War Having secured the city’s economic future, Callhoun had to turn her attention to other threats. A group of high-tech invaders, known as the Exxaxes Warband, had invaded the Flint River, and had built an army aimed at conquering the Foundry. Realising that this was a very real threat to their future, Calloun and her inner circle went to work in planning the defence of the city and ways to bring down their enemies. Publicly, she rallied the city’s citizens, painting a picture of the enemy as murderous, inhuman hordes of ghouls and robots bent on tearing down all that they had built up. These dire pronouncements whipped the population into a frenzy, seeing them increase production and volunteer for combat roles. During the early stages of the Flint River War, Callhoun lead her armies from the Foundry proper, managing a fighting retreat that traded space for time. As she and her inner circle had predicted, the Exaxes and their allies became strung out and bogged down, unable to make any real headway while draining their supply reserves. The Exaxes proved to be especially vulnerable, as the robots they used to bolster their forces were functionally irreplaceable. In many cases, they had to cannibalise damaged machines to keep others functioning. This strategy managed to draw the war out over the winter of 2284-2285, which bought the fighting to an effective standstill as neither side could make any advance against each other of the weather. Inside the Foundary, the Forgemaster took this opportunity to rearm her soldiers and prepare for the next stage of the conflict. Continued speeches and rallies kept morale high, especially as the Forgemaster pointed out how the Foundry’s people were safe behind their walls while their enemies were freezing and starving to death outside. As spring rolled around, the Forgemaster took a different, more active role in the conflict. They began leading their armies from the frontlines, the decision one that was based on both strategic and emotional reasoning. The Forgemaster’s T-51b suit represented a powerful weapon, one that was more then a match for most of their enemies. Furthermore, the presence of their leader on the battlefield served as a morale boost for the Foundry’s armies, urging them onwards to greater acts. Under Callhoun’s lead, the Foundry was able to shatter their enemies, ending the conflict while securing their future. Category:Characters